A day after the BJP objected to the renaming and archiving of the PMO Twitter handle, terming the move “unethical” and “illegal”, the Prime Minister’s Office Wednesday said the handle @PMOIndia has been “secured” and would be handed over to the incoming PMO.

“The Twitter account @PMOIndia has been secured by Twitter and they are assisting in the handover of the same to this office to be available to the incoming PMO administration along with its followers. The existing material on Dr Manmohan Singh will be separately available under a new account on Twitter”, a PMO statement said.

The PMO had Tuesday transferred the content and 1.24 million followers of @PMOIndia to @PMOIndiaArchive, prompting sharp reactions.

Adviser to the PM Pankaj Pachauri had clarified the resetting was being done to ensure implementation of the RTI Act.

On Wednesday, the PMO emphasised, “The transfer of these digital assets to the incoming PMO administration has been arranged. The archiving process is underway so all archived material can also be available to the public.”

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, known to be active on Twitter, said, “PMOIndia handle will remain for the new PMO. Twitter authorities will give it to them. It is only the earlier tweets of the previous PM and the PMO that have been archived. So I think the whole controversy is a storm in a Twitter tea cup.”

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this is the first time in the post Twitter age that such a transition has taken place in the country.